About friendship and freedom
29. August 2024
On 26 September the French debut film Holy Cow will open this year’s FILMFEST HAMBURG in the presence of director Louise Courvoisier and leading actors Clément Faveau and Maïwène Barthelemy. The closing film is the German premiere of Pedro Almódovar’s recent film The Room Next Door, which is being shot in English for the first time and will celebrate its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on 2 September. The films are exemplary for the range of this year’s programme, from the first or second feature films of promising young filmmakers to works by renowned directors from all over the world.
“Holy Cow is a powerful debut about love and country life in all its beauty and roughness, an authentic tragicomedy about growing up in the French Jura, humorous and lightly told, with a wonderful cast of amateur actors. Louise Courvoisier has already attracted a lot of attention at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, she is a great talent with a bright future, I’m sure of it,” says festival director Malika Rabahallah. “I’m really looking forward to closing my first festival with The Room Next Door, directed by Pedro Almódovar, about an intense female friendship – an emotional and poignant film that will stay with you for a long time.”
Holy Cow tells the story of Totone (Clément Faveau), who loves hanging out with his mates, dancing and flirting. Until he’s caught up in reality. Suddenly he has to take responsibility for his little sister and his parents’ shabby farm in the French Jura. In order to cover the costs of living, he hatches a plan: together with his friends, his sister and the young female farmer Marie-Lise (Maïwène Barthelemy), he wants to make the best Comté cheese. Louise Courvoisier’s debut film celebrated its world premiere in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was awarded the Prix de la Jeunesse. Holy Cow will be released in German cinemas on 2 January 2025, distributed by Pandora Film.
The ten-day FILMFEST HAMBURG ends on 5 October with Pedro Almódovar’s film The Room Next Door, shot in English for the first time: In their youth, Ingrid (Julianne Moore) and Martha (Tilda Swinton) were close friends as colleagues at the same magazine. But then life caused them to lose sight of each other. Ingrid now works as an autofictional author, Martha as a war reporter. After years of no contact, the two women meet again in a difficult but also strangely beautiful situation.The Room Next Door will celebrate its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on 2 September, and will compete for the Golden Lion. The film will be released on 24 October 2024 distributed by Warner Bros.
FILMFEST HAMBURG will take place from 26 September to 5 October 2024. Over 120 productions from all over the world will be shown as World, European, German or Hamburg premieres. The complete programme will be announced on 10 September 2024.
Photo: © Pandora Film / Laurent Le Crab; El Deseo photo by Iglesias Más/ 2024 Warner Bros. Ent
